With the increase in automobile usage in the 1940's and early 1950's, studies were under taken by auto manufacturers and civil engineering educators related to the response of vehicles and operators along with the design of roadways to handle the increasing demand. These methods remain in use today and have come to be referred to as Car Following (CF) studies with the interaction of vehicle density, vehicle performance, roadway design and construction, and operator interaction reduced to mathematical equations. Argument continues within the science as to the parameters of importance in the mathematical models and the accuracy of the calculated results, but it is general accepted that the points of significance include: vehicle speed, maximum vehicle acceleration and deceleration, distance (headway) between vehicles, operator reaction time, and vehicle density. Numerous equations have been developed as a product of this research with calculations intended to demonstrate roadway capacity (vehicles/hour), roadway congestion (cars/mile), vehicle speed as a function of traffic density, the demarcation between stable and unstable conditions, and to predict the time to collision (TTC) under varying conditions. A key conclusion from these studies was that an operator's lack of awareness of events unfolding several vehicles downstream often resulted in the propagation of a perturbation into the upstream traffic flow with ever increasing intensity. The result of this effect was often observed as a slowing of traffic in a phantom traffic jam and not uncommonly resulting in an actual rear-end collision. The present invention addresses this significant CF circumstance by providing vehicle operators with the status of conditions downstream in real time. While the equations and calculations shown in prior studies remain applicable, the conditions available from application of the invention simplify the analysis to approximate that of only a single vehicle unit following a lead vehicle since all following vehicles have instant, real time information as to conditions and all can, therefore, act simultaneously and independently adjust to changing conditions as needed.
There has been considerable interest and development efforts in connection with the computer assisted detection, distance measuring, and vision system that relate to automobile warning systems that can alert drivers of developing or changing conditions ahead of their respective vehicle. The insurance industry, government agencies, automobile manufactures along with other safety minded groups, have recognised the need for vehicles to employ collision warning and/or avoidance systems.
For example, a method developed by Suburu and called “EyeSight” is directed to a system that monitors traffic conditions ahead of the vehicle and provides alerts to the driver. It also assumes some level of control over the operation of the vehicle. There are also disclosures in the prior art that include fairly complicated traffic monitoring and control concepts that send information regarding traffic conditions into the traffic stream through permanently positioned WiFi and other types of signal transmitters located along the sides of highways.
Common occurrences in moderate to heavy city and highway traffic are congestive chain-reaction slow-downs and related chain-reaction collisions. In some cases the occurrence is triggered by a specific event such as road construction, a mechanical breakdown, or an accident, but very often there is no definite or specific cause for the occurrence other than an ever increasing braking action as drivers sequentially react to an unknown non-specific change in conditions immediately in front of them.
It is believed that a driver's sudden braking reaction propagates up-stream from a vehicle to the following vehicle with a predictable increase in magnitude. It has also been shown that the chain-reaction effect may be disrupted when an attentive driver monitors conditions several vehicles ahead and is therefore able to anticipate the need for a gradual change such as speed reduction without excessive brake application.
The object of the invention is to provide drivers with a vehicular system that monitors conditions in front of their vehicle to facilitate a controlled reaction to changing conditions, and to also provide information up-stream to following vehicles to further promote the continued propagation of the controlled reaction.
Vehicles have been equipped with brake-lights on the rear of vehicles to provide an alert to the driver of a following vehicle for many years. Through the intervening years, brake-light technology has improved and those advancements included an increase in number, illumination intensity, size and location to provide to following drivers a highly noticeable signal. However, signals from conventional brake lights are a limited-information binary alert that warns of a possible change in vehicle speed but provides no other definitive information.
Some years after the introduction of the brake-light, turn-signal lights were added for the purpose of providing additional information to other drivers that change in speed and/or direction were imminent. While providing more information than the brake-light, this again provided a limited alert requiring and dependent upon additional observation and interpretation on the part of the following driver.
More recent technology includes a variety of radar based proximity systems, brake light detection and image processing systems to assist with providing information to help with collision avoidance. The following other U.S. patents or publications are all generally directed to different collision avoidance systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,629,789 is directed to a mobile communication device and discloses a system that collects multiple data points including radio tower transmission and satellite data the location of a vehicle as well as laser detection systems. It also detects brake lights. The system contemplates providing data relating to potholes and traffic jams, such as those caused by accidents, icing, rain, sun glare. The system tracks abnormal traffic patterns by comparing a vehicle speed to the speed limit of historical average speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,880, relates to an inter vehicle data communication devices. The '880 Patent teaches systems which integrate GPS, GLONASS, LORAN or other positioning systems into vehicular guidance systems and generally disclose use of radar, laser, acoustic and visual sensors have all been applied to vehicular guidance and control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,590 relates to a vehicle crash predictive and evasive system, employing image data and neural networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,612 relates to a vehicle collision avoidance system, using an infrared imaging system including an infrared camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,523 relates to a neural network system for recognizing driving conditions and controlling the vehicle in dependence thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,619 relates to an artificial intelligence based adaptive vehicle control system. It discloses a laser radar apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,997 relates to a driver-adaptive automobile control system that focuses on predicting particular driver characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,882 relates to an anti-collision radar system for detecting obstacles or on-coming vehicles. It teaches taking into account all traffic conditions. It includes automatic braking systems. The system uses a radar detector and determines the safe distances between vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,584 relates to a system for communication between vehicles through a transmitter and transponder relationship. The patent refers to a system that can handles as many as 90 vehicles within one half mile of a fixed interrogation device in a multi-lane environment, where many of them may be at the same or nearly the same range. The '584 patent discloses a transponder device, the coded responses which are randomized in time, and an interrogation device which processes the return signals to provide vehicle identification, speed, location and transponder status information on vehicles to an operator or for storage in memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,669 provides for two-way communication and addressing messages to specific vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,990,283 discloses an accident avoidance system using an infrastructure system to convey location information between vehicles includes at least two vehicles approaching or traveling on a roadway and each having onboard, a position determining system that receives satellite positioning signals from a plurality of satellites and determines location information based on the satellite positioning signals, a transmitter that transmits the location information for the vehicle to an infrastructure system, a receiver that receives location information for another vehicle from the infrastructure system, and an accident risk warning system that alerts its operator of a risk of an accident based on the location information for any other vehicles and map data representing the roadway including edges or lane boundaries of the roadway.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,255,144 assigned to Intelligent Technologies International, Inc., Denville, N.J. discloses a system and method for conveying data between vehicles includes a data generating system arranged on a first vehicle to obtain or generate information about the first vehicle or conditions around the first vehicle, a first communications system arranged on the first vehicle and coupled to the data generating system for communicating with a wireless Internet service provider (ISP) and a second communications system arranged on a second vehicle and communicating with an ISP. The first communications system enables the information obtained or generated by the data generating system to be transmitted via the Internet to the second communications system. The first and second communications systems can communicate with the same ISP or different ISPs linked to one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,912,645 discloses an arrangement and method for displaying and transferring information between a vehicle and at least one transmitter separate from the vehicle includes an antenna mounted on the vehicle for receiving RF wireless signals emitted by each transmitter, a location determining device for determining the vehicle's location, a display arranged on the vehicle in a position to be viewable by a vehicle occupant and to display representations of the vehicle and other objects in the vicinity of the vehicle, and a processor coupled to the antenna, location determining device and display. The transmitter is located at a fixed position. The processor performs location-based filtering of signals received by the antenna to determine whether any contain information of interest for vehicular operation, extracts the information of interest from the signals determined to contain information of interest, and displays the location of the transmitter of the signals determined to contain information of interest or the information of interest from the transmitter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,450 relates to a reflected beam system for detecting a preceding vehicle that is used to allow control over inter-vehicular spacing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,469 relates to an obstacle proximity sensor, employing, inter alia radar beam to determine distance and relative velocity of an obstacle for collision avoidance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,561 relates to a vehicle distance data processor which computes a velocity vector based on serial timepoints. This reference discloses capturing multiple vehicles data ahead of the subject.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,456 relates to optical pulse radar for an automobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,577 relates to a moving obstacle detection system for a vehicle, using Doppler radar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,823 relates to an automotive radar system for monitoring objects in front of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,538 relates to a collision judging system for a vehicle, triggered by a braking event and determining a distance to an obstacle in front of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,499 relates to an anti-collision radar system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,850 relates to a vehicle detection and collision avoidance apparatus, using an acoustic sensor
U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,662 relates to a passing vehicle signaling apparatus, to detect adjacent vehicles during a lane change.